March artist ‘meet and greet’ and art exhibit at Gafney Library

Thursday

Mar 6, 2014 at 3:15 AM

WAKEFIELD — Exhibit coordinator Peter Abate has just finished setting up the March exhibit featuring artists Dorothy Rogers and Sharon Soule in the Gafney Library in Sanbornville. Among the winter scenes in the exhibit are hopeful works reminding the viewer that spring is “just around the corner.” “Dog Sledding on Chocorua Lake,” “Valley Overlook-Winter,” and “Hungry Deer After the Ice Storm” give way to “Boys Sippin Sap,” “Maple Syrup Time,” and finally” “Tulips,” “Pretty Picnic Spot” and “Coastal Cottage.”

Dorothy Rogers was born and raised in Milton to a family of artists that encouraged her to draw and paint at an early age. As an adult and raising a large family, Dorothy relaxed by taking classes with artists in Portsmouth and Rochester. In 1969 she won a Purchase Prize from the Warren Paper Company at the Portland, ME, Sidewalk Art Festival and 1st Prize at the Rochester Fair. During the 1970s and 1980s Dorothy sold and exhibited work at the Portland Sidewalk Art Festival and in various shops and drug stores. After opening a home bakery and craft shop in the early 1990s, she began to experiment with paint on wood, rocks and mushrooms.

Since closing her bakery in 2001 Dorothy has had more time to reconnect with her passion of watercolor and oil painting. She has exhibited her work at local banks, libraries and art shows in Maine and New Hampshire including the annual art shows in Chocorua, the Brass Heart Inn, the Salyards Center for the Arts, and other Mt. Washington Valley Arts Association shows.

In 2009 Dorothy won the Grand Prize at the Memorial Hospital Open Golf Tournament’s 30th Anniversary Art Contest with her painting “The Eternal Optimist.” She was also a 1st Prize winner at the Conservation Commission’s 1st Annual Art Show in Madison. Currently, Dorothy is exhibiting her work at the Underground Gallery at the Office Market in Conway, the Freedom Village Store in Freedom and Drinker of the Wind Studio in Turner, Maine.

Sharon Soule moved to North Conway in 1998, became interested in watercolor painting and joined the Mt. Washington Valley Arts Association’s Friday Painters’ Group which works indoors during the winter and outdoors during the summer at a different location each week. Through this experience and by attending workshops she continues to learn about this challenging and expressive medium.

Sharon has studied with artists Peg Scully, Lavonne Suwalski, Charlene Lee, J.P. Goodwin, Marge Kendrick, Ed Cooke, Bob Gordon, and Jan Kilburn. Her work has been exhibited at numerous MWVAA member shows. Her painting “Twilight Garden Dreams,” a watercolor on board, received Honorable Mention at Art in the Park in 2012. Sharon is past secretary of the MWVAA and teaches “Watercolor for the Absolute Beginner” through which she shares the joy of watercolors with others.

The artists welcome the public to attend a meet and greet at the library on Saturday, March 15 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The exhibit, which one viewer dubbed the art equivalent to “comfort food” may be viewed during library open hours of Tuesday and Thursday, 1-7:30 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday, 10-noon; and Saturday, 9-2. For more information call library director Beryl Donovan at 522-3401.

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